Did I miss something?
Angel
Posts: 1,204
in The Commons
Am not sure what is going on. I'm wondering if I missed some kind of event. It seems like a lot of the old commenters are no longer around. This past year has been a bit .. odd... Not even the great Shibashake is gettin much of a response from the great art he/she submits. It got me to thinking.. Did something happen? I am not on the forums a whole lot. Usualy when I'm here it's because I have a concern or technical problem. This thread being case in point. Anyways.. What happened?...
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
224 S 200 W, Suite #250
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2024 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
Beats me, as far as I know nothing happened - but then again I'm always "out of the loop". Something huge could happen and I would probably be oblivious to it. lol
Yeah, At first I thought it was just me, having a run of really bad renders. Thought nothing of it. Then my friend brought it up to me, so did a few others, and lately its gotten a lot worse. To the point where getting 2 comments and 7-12 thumbs up is about the upper limit of the gallery. It was just weird, cause my average render was getting about 25-40.... then out of the blue it dropped off the face of the earth. I've never been a Zero Liker... But latley... it wouldnt supprise me. Thats why I thought it was a huge argument on the forums or something. Because one minute the gallery is booming with life and fun comments, the next, its a ghost town. It was so abrupt that it's hard to miss.
LOL, that's all I've ever gotten on a good day so I think it's par for the course. Doesn't mean your renders are better or worse. Sometimes I'll look at the same set of thumbnails in the gallery on two seperate days and notice great renders I completely overlooked the 1st day. I've been viewing the gallery less because it seems to me the number of renders is up and the qualoty is up and browsing the gallery is so slow too. And if you make a typo typing a comment and try to correct the typo often you are taken off the page you were typing on and have to start all over again. There are lots of problems that discourage regularly viewing the gallery.
This may sound weird, but maybe it has to do with Internet Security software and/or browsers.
For example, when I upgraded Kapersky last spring, it started complaining about "Invalid Name of certificate" and made me click on a button to Disconnect or Continue before it would load the page. If I hit Disconnect, the page wouldn't load at all, and if I hit Continue, another message would pop up where I could choose to not be prompted for a whole 30 minutes while on the same site. I "fixed" that, but now another one pops up for Share This, I think. That one I can hit disconnect and the page still loads.
People have a tendency to freak out when their computer pops up with messages indicating a page or site might unsafe, regardless of how many times they've visited the site safely in the past.
For me, I spend less time in the galleries because it's such a pain in the backside to deal with the recurring popup. Though whenever I do go to the galleries, I go through several pages looking for images to Like.
I think people get bored. An artist may render the best dodads in town, but I think people want to see something new from you.
I basically render the same characters over and over. Somedays people like it, but most of the time, i get few comments.
theoverall quality of the gallery has done up as though. So its tough to stand out.
In my case, I still visit the gallery here and occassionally upload but it's very sporadic. I can't keep up with it. DA is already difficult enough to keep up with and my super fave artists are all over there (Serene, for example), so that's where I tend to stay. The galleries here are beautiful though, but it's just hard to keep up with. I do more liking than commenting anymore.
Yeah, I think there are just too many galleries to keep track of. I don't really like the structure and restrictions of the DAZ galleries and rarely post there myself and Rendo has actually resorted to paying people to post in their galleries, so DevArt has been the main place I look these days.
I am relatively new to the forums, but I never visit the gallery. Didnt even notice it till after a while tbh. I usually want to learn more about the programs or see if there’s new things in the shop.
The problem is the gallery is kinda tucked away, and ofcourse it also isn’t the main attraction to this website. If they would add the top images to forums somehow, it might gain some more views and interactions.
When You have to spend so much time to find out how the newest DAZ deal is supposed to work, there's just no time to go and look at gallery pics...
Personally, I never look at the gallery. And the reason is that the few times I've looked it's basically nothing more than stock female characters in a certain pose or with a certain expression. And often holding a sword or a gun or something.
For me, as much as I love seeing images of beautiful women, it's totally dis-interesting. And I had to chuckle when I just scanned the gallery for the first time in a long while, and since the new "old guy" character was released in the store, now there are suddenly renders of stock "old guy" characters. 
. And there's even a render of a stock Blender benchmark scene, which is pretty much "load the scene and hit render". 
I think (and this is just personal opinion) that it takes a lot to impact viewers, especially now in the age where everyone is totally saturated with visual images and videos on the web. And many are by professionals who really know how to attact our attention. We've become so used to quick, knee-jerk reactions of "like" and "dislike", and it's so easy to search for and jump to only the stuff we know we like and want to see, that I think many of us just don't have much of a tolerance for stuff that doesn't match our narrow filters.
Personally, as I scan the gallery it's pretty much "ho-hum", with few, if any, of the images really saying anything new or interesting. I'm a firm believer that art is really, really difficult to do well, and takes a special talent that few people have. And it's a talent that I really don't come close to having.
i try to tap a couple renders in the gallery everyday, but it is difficult to skim the gallery for the pro stuff as for the above comment ? i generally only tap renders of country scenes, animals, and kids and don't care for the soft porn junk
i think that they need to get rid of the like button and go with a view count instead
Trying to delete this blank post.....
Don't for one microsecond think the issue is your wonderful art, or anyone else's! I am seeing this kind of thing ..... well, everywhere. Everyone I know seems to be gradually getting busier and more distracted. We are, as a society, constantly presented with an exponentially increasing number of distractions, and the algorithms written to seduce us with suggestions are constantly improving.
Maikdecker gave a prime example in his post above: "When You have to spend so much time to find out how the newest DAZ deal is supposed to work, there's just no time to go and look at gallery pics...". This is not a complaint, just an observation, but I have noticed that I am spending far more time looking at the complex sales ads, and this has reduced the time I have to look at galleries or forums.
Your realistic young characters are making several projects of mine possible, and I look forward to more!
Just as a somewhat scary personal example: the other day I was determined to do some home maintenance. But a suggested topic on YouTube lead me to several new videos dealing with Pictish Ogham script from Northern Scotland, of particular interest to me for several projects....the home maintenance did not get done. I don't imagnine there is a very large number of people on this planet interested in Pictish Ogham writing, but here were these very good presentations....and the YouTube algorithms figured out from my previous searches to tempt me with them.....
I think attenion also shifts because the internet is so dynamic. I get the most interaction on facebook. Hardly anything at all on Deviant art, while that was the place to be as an artist some years ago.
I look at the gallery daily. It’s not difficult to see what’s new if you look once a day. There are only a few pages uploaded.
Most of the images I like are hot dudes And images that that tell a story.
I’m not fond of facial portraits or the hot babe art. Which is about 2/3rds of what gets posted
#1 ... my art kinda sucks sort of.
#2 ... yes, on the DAZ sales. too complicated. too time consumering browsing all the categories. Like today, every PA is on sale ... DAZ needs to make it SIMPLE. Maybe just like only have Fastgrab ... but put new, old, and in between stuff ..or a theme, or an artist. period...nothing else.
#3 ... The internet is awash with so much stuff its out of control. too much that takes your mind off of things
#4 ... REAL LIFE .. it is complicated too. so much going on, trying to make a buck, family, etc.
#5 ... there is another artist place ELLO ... its pretty neat sort of ...https://ello.co/
THE CREATORS NETWORK
Ello is a global community of artists dedicated to creative excellence. Built by artists, for artists.
Yes, I think you are right. The FB versions of several other forums I try to look at are very active, while the original forums on a website are ghost towns.
And now my sons, who are in their 20's, tell me that their generation does not use FB much, they have moved on to Twitter, and to other aps I've never even heard of.... They tease me that my forum avatar, an old, gray dinosaur with a faded party hat, is pretty appropriate.
Years ago I used Bryce to render my images. I posted these at Renderosity and occasionally in the gallery here. During that time I viewed and commented in the galleries. It took me hours each day to keep up with all the comments and viewing. I finally got burnt out and backed away from 3D art and commenting. I moved on to 2D art for a while at a site where comments weren't expected but you could follow an artist if you liked their work. When I came back to 3D I was out of the habit of commenting.
No one should take lack of comments as a sign that their work is not good. I think that the quality of work in the galleries is amazing and hope that you all continue to create these wonderful images. I will probably never spend a lot of time commenting again but I'll definitely give them the thumbs up.
Images don't need to be masters of color and composition to be good. Some images make me laugh, others are a commentary on current issues, some show the soul of man. All of these can move us and that's what makes great art.
The galleries here are a mixed bag for me. When I comment/like/thumbs up an image it's usually ones that are not heavily postworked since I don't care for that look and ones that move me. It sems to me there are 2 types of posters, those that create for themselves and post what they like to share their vision and those that crank out the renders to win a popularity contest of sorts and when they don't get enough validation on an image think something is wrong. We all like an pat on the back when we post something we are proud of, but it shouldn't be the sole reason we are posting IMO.
It's funny, I used to not post as much in the gallery here as the upload would almost always create an error and timeout, but with my new ISP I haven't have that issue, but now my muse is on vacation, LOL.
The only way to delete one of your posts is to flag it and request the mods delete it.
one thing about the gallery, imo - it is not the best in the world to navigate especially if you are not logged in- it will take you back to the market once you do when all you wanted to do was thumb up an image. i try to open all the renders i like in a new tab then go back and like and comment because it is difficult clicking one then going back through the gallery trying to begin where you left off
I find this store has a lot of regulars and a ton of people who lurk or post only in a few threads. They are active but that’s about it.
In general I tend to get more responses and nice comments at places like rendo and deviant. For example if I post a freebie there I get much more response and more downloads too.
I think the sense of community here has gone downhill and the forums are deader than usual. The customer base likes and is interested in only a few specific thing...That probably carries over to the gallery too.
I would separate forum from gallery. I never look at galleries, I don't like the interface and I mainly do DA.
I've only been here a few years, but I haven't noticed any big shift.
Also remember that just the fact that it's summer tends to thin the forums out a bit. People are outside when the weather is nice or on vacation. Now that we're entering the colder months of the year it might pick up a little bit. The fact also remains that forums everywhere are fading away simply because they've run their course and more means of communication with "instant gratification" have moved in to fill the gap. Older folks like some of us might still be fine with forums, but younger folks tend to go for things like Instagram and Twitter. It's just one of those things.
Laurie
I'm relatively new here, haven't even been around a year, but one of the first things I noticed was that there was very little to no response to things posted in the gallery, ironically enough, the first one I posted of a girl with a unicorn was probably the most liked. I uploaded a few things there, but kinda got to the point of thinking, well... What's the point. And yes, I do, or maybe did, think it was because my stuff wasn't very good, which it probably isn't, but that's besides the point I suppose. I see a lot of stuff that IS very good, and still only like 1 or 2 likes. So occasionally I will look, and even more rarely post something, but I'm still in the mindset of, what's the point. Maybe others have reached this conclusion as well and just don't even bother.
I came to this after using a Japanese program that is like a really watered down version of DS or Poser, that is in all actuality only really a....errr... an "adult" oriented game that also comes with a poser studio. Most of the people that use the program use it for the Studio (what the poser aspect is called). Hell, I've even imported some Daz stuff I've bought into it and played around with them there. But that too is besides the point. When I posted pictures I took with that program I was used to getting dozens of likes or comments for even mediocre images. Maybe that is what made me personally have the feeling of futility in posting to the galleries. Went from on average 30 or so interactions to 2.
The reason I bring this up is that if things were different in the past, maybe now that they are the way they are other more veteran people such as yourself remember the days where there was interactions and now that things are so.... lackluster they themselves have adopted the "What's the point" attitude.
This resonated with me, I'm the first type. I use the gallery here as a way to organize the renders I like. If I get comments, I reply with a thanks. If I get questions, I answer (good thing you get an email when someone leaves a comment). However, I'm not checking every second to see how many likes I've gotten (of if I've gotten at all), because I'm really just posting things for myself. To backup my renders in case one or all of my external drives end up failing (happened once. I dropped an external drive and I was... it's okay, I still have my backup. I went to grab it, my furry son deemed it time to ran across my path, ended up tripping and the external drive went down the stairs. It was a dark, dark day).
If I remember and/or get the time, I'll post them to my DA as well, but again, it's only as a way to organize my art. For that reason, whenever I check the gallery I do it through ATI's add-on. Since usually when I see a product I like but aren't sure about, I'll check who has used it in the gallery.
I try to check once a day, give thumbs up to renders I like (a big number of people from this thread get them
for example) but I am lazy with comments. In addition you can't correct mistakes so it's a pain. I also like it when people either give a bit of feedback or at least mention what they used in the image.
Then like nonesuch00 said I overlook some good renders because ....I try to go fast, I am not in the mood ....
I was just wondering if I missed some kind of argument. Because while most of you guys dont go to the gallery, which is all good. Maybe thats why your not seeing what I saw. It used to be really fun and full of life, even without you guys. Then over the past 6 months or so it.. all stopped.. just out of nowhere. For all Artist. Even the really good artists. I found it really bizarre.
Wow.... you weren't kidding.... creepy....
Yep.